Please Don't Confuse Subtlety with Significance.

Please don't confuse subtlety with significance.

Language is a very subtle thing.  However, just because it can be subtle, that doesn't make it insignificant. The words we use say everything about us.

I recently asked a friend 'How life was treating them?'  Just an insignificant question designed to break the ice after a few weeks without contact...right?  Only partly.  The wording has more significance than may first be apparent.  The question demonstrates the belief (however deep rooted) that life is in charge of you, not the other way around.

Now - people may scoff and say - "Calm down, its just a question" - but if we hold true the understanding that our behaviour is driven by our beliefs either consciously or subconsciously, perhaps it would be worth re-thinking the wording to be less fatalistic.  The significant part of this process is the 'thinking' about it.  As I think about it consciously I develop my belief system accordingly.

I, for one, would find it awkward to turn the language around completely.  I wouldn't ask; "How are you treating life?" However, I'm sure there is a phrase that I can find that would work for me - and probably one that is already commonly used in greetings around the world...

There are many examples of how language can reveal the deeper held beliefs of an individual.  "Its only me" - implying I'm not important; "Take Care" - implying the dangers are many and you must avoid them.  These are everyday sayings that we use without conscious intent - however, if we consciously think about them, we may want to make a different point.

So many of these statements we make are negative in their nuance.  We become so used to them that it has become a part of our everyday accepted language.  We don't have to invent new outlandish phrases to counter this - we can just think about our language more carefully, think about what belief it implies and in the process of doing this, work on our belief system as a direct result.

With regards to shifting our belief system, building self esteem and 'thinking positively', subtle changes can be significant  - we don't have to change the world to change the world.